Blackhawks face difficult task in returning to play after three-day Christmas break.

The Blackhawks saw firsthand a year ago the difficulties of playing immediately after the NHL's three-day Christmas break when they shellacked the Avalanche 7-2 at the United Center.

League rules prohibit teams from any official contact with players during the break — and that includes travel — so the Avs flew into Chicago the morning of the game and had their heads handed to them by the Hawks that night.

Now the tables have turned, and the Hawks are scheduled to fly to Denver on Saturday morning to face the Avs a few hours later.

"We're going to fly out there, skate in the morning and have a regular game routine after that," coach Joel Quenneville said. "You just have to know your flight that day. (The Avs) weren't happy last year, but that's the way it is. Now it's our turn, but we're not complaining."

The memory of the Avs struggling to keep up under the unusual circumstances should fuel the Hawks' effort against their Central Division rivals.

"We remember what happened to Colorado when they had to go through it last year," said winger Patrick Sharp, who recorded his third career hat trick in that game. "It was a pretty big disadvantage for them to fly across the country and play a game, so we're returning the favor. Hopefully we can play our best game there.

"Our team is kind of fortunate that Joel gives us a ton of time off. We have a lot of older, veteran guys, and even our younger guys have played big games and know how to take care of themselves away from the rink. We have some guys who will try a little bit harder to keep themselves ready to go for that game."

The Hawks will have a slight advantage in that they gain an hour flying into the Mountain time zone and plan to arrive in time for an 11:30 a.m. skate, the normal slot for visiting teams.

Working against them, however, will be the short adjustment period to the high altitude of Colorado. The Hawks typically have traveled as early as possible to Denver to get acclimated but won't have that luxury for Saturday's game.

"It's going to be a challenge, especially going to Colorado with the high-altitude issue," defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson said. "If we were going to Minnesota or Nashville or somewhere like that, it wouldn't be that big of a deal.

"Usually we go in there and play the first period and it's pretty tough to breathe. We're not going to have time to adjust, so it's going to be a tough one. At the same time, you can't blame anything on that."

Though they had three days to rest, recuperate and celebrate the holidays with family and friends, Quenneville hoped players would "get a sweat or two over two of the three days."

That was the plan for winger Patrick Kane, who said he was headed home to Buffalo, N.Y., to spend the break with his family.

"It's not like you're getting three days off and you can just go eat whatever you want and drink whatever you want," Kane said. "Especially the last couple days of the trip, you have to prepare yourself for that next game.

"It seems longer than it really is. You know you're back on the ice and playing a game and traveling the same day, so you have to prepare yourself for that."